The purpose of my study was to study whether the male and female athletes portrayed in the ESPN Body Issue were portrayed differently. Since all the people in the ESPN Body Issue were athletes, we wouldn’t expect to see Goffman’s gender displays in play. Overall, despite a couple exceptions, we still see gender being displayed differently throughout the ESPN Body Issue. The sampling frame that I looked at was the timeline of the ESPN Body Issue from 2009-2019. I conducted probability sampling and more specifically simple random sampling as I wanted my research to be able to generalize about my findings and the findings in the ESPN Body Issue. The methods used were basic content analysis, counting the number of Goffman’s Gender displays I was coding for. The methods for interpretive content analysis were looking at the photos for each coded gender display and looking for recurring themes and new themes that arose.
The research question presented in the introduction was, “What is the effect of Goffman’s Gender Displays on male and female athletes in the ESPN Body Issue?”
Based on this research, Goffman’s gender displays play a large role in how the ESPN Body Issue athletes are portrayed. Three main themes that arose from my analysis were body positioning, attention level, and control vs care.
Body Positioning:
Overall, my findings were consistent with Goffman’s theory that we would expect men to be displayed in an upright and powerful position, and that’s what I found. The theme of body positioning was quite evident in the photos I studied as many females were shown seated or lying down much more than then men. Men were mostly seen as standing upright or standing upright with a grounded knee bend. This portrayal of men standing upright and women laying down coneys that Goffman’s gender display theory can be seen throughout the ESPN Body issue
Attention Level:
Overall, my findings were consistent with Goffman’s theory that gender display norms are often reinforced in media such as the ESPN Body issue. The theme of attention level was evident in the photos I studied as many females were shown as passive and sexually objectified much more than men. Most times, men were seen as active and alert, and demonstrating a sense of strength and power in their photos, on the other hand, women were often depicted with their focus on their own bodies or out in the distance, and even looking sexually into the camera. This displayed the women as if they were unaware of their surroundings and dreaming off into space. This portrayal of women as unaware and passive, and men as active and alert, helps reinforces the traditional gender roles and also contributes to the objectification and disempowerment of women in society.
Control vs Care:
Overall, my findings were consistent with Goffman’s theory that the way athletes are portrayed in the media can reinforce traditional gender roles. In particular, my study found that female athletes were more often portrayed as caring for their object, while male athletes were portrayed as controlling their environment and object with strengthful grips. This aligns with Goffman’s gender display theory, which suggests that women are often portrayed as more passive and nurturing, while men are portrayed as more dominant and in control. Additionally, my study found that many female athletes were not even portrayed with an object, while their male counterparts in the same year were shown with their sports object. This further reinforces traditional gender roles and suggests that the media may still be perpetuating gender stereotypes in how it portrays athletes.
Future research:
For future research, studies should incorporate all the athletes featured in the ESPN body issue and code for pictures where athletes are shown without their sport or object being portrayed. This was something I didn’t expect to see, and I would find it very interesting to see the comparison of photos of men without their object and women without their object/sport being portrayed. Some limitations that arose during the research were my coding categories. Many of the coding categories I used were tough to differentiate, an example of this is the knee bend. Many of the photos it was tough to see if the knee bend was grounded as the photo didn’t show the athletes feet and cut off at their knees, thus I had to infer if their feet were on the ground or more in the air which would result in an off balanced knee bend or a grounded knee bend.